“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” – Thomas Merton
We love these beautiful sunny captures of creative artistic soul Shantana Deka Datta, part of our ‘Midsummer Dream’ photoshoot. She is the owner of ARTantana Handmade (https://www.facebook.com/artantanahandmade/) which offers an unique range of handmade accessories created with love and passion. They come in a wide array of colours and are intricate works of art. It could be wire wrapping, weaving through beads or incorporating the natural goodness of gemstones. No two pieces are the same. Passion is the only common element in each of the pieces created.
This gorgeous lady is showcasing some of her charming creations in these photos.
The aim of the photoshoot was to empower women through fashion by boosting their self-confidence and to provide a platform for the businesses involved to showcase their talents and products.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Rebecca Nina, a teacher and blogger based in Switzerland. Here is an interview with her.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself, what you do, your hobbies etc.
My name is Nina and I am on my journey to become the empowered and limitless woman I’m destined to be. On my blog, I invite other women to join me on this journey and try my best to encourage and help them to pursue their dreams.
As an empath, I feel deeply and helping people – especially women – seems just like the right thing for me to do. In my past, I struggled with extremely low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. I was a magnet for toxic people and always felt trapped in
my own life. Until I realized that I, in fact, was the toxic person myself. I know, this might sound a little extreme, but let me explain why. Primarily, the problem was not my environment or my job – it was how I approached things, how I talked to myself – my MINDSET. I was attracting all this BS into my life. I was responsible for what has happened.
As soon as I knew that, I began to work on myself. For the first time in my life, I started to develop a vision of who I actually am and want to
be. And this was when I discovered my purpose. I am here to empower women, to help them unleash their feminine power and to encourage them
to be brave and never give up on their dreams.
I have been a “creative mess” my whole life… I absolutely love drawing, writing, and crafting, photography, interior – and fashion design – the list is endless. Some of you might relate when I say it is
a mixed blessing. Why? In fact, having that many talents is like having one penny of every currency in your purse. You can’t buy anything anywhere. I always felt like I’m not good enough in any of these things to make it my profession. But now with my business, I can actually unite all those things and use them to empower other women to do the same.
For example, I create and sell digital affirmation art prints on Etsy, to use my passion to draw and design in order to help women manifest their
dreams.
2. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
Since I got to know myself better, I am able to envision my life much more precisely now. I know exactly how I want my future to look like. By
visualizing it on a vision board, I try to manifest these goals in my life.
At the moment, my biggest goal is to grow my online business: I want to be able to live from helping women, and working from home has always
been desirable for me. However, this requires patience and a great batch of dedication, and let me tell you – I’m not quite there yet. But even
though it’s not always easy, I’m not giving up and work on it almost every single day. Even on bad days, where it seems like I can’t get anything done at all, I try to find a small and simple task that I can
do regardless. And if even this is too much, I give myself a break and try to not pressure myself.
3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I picture myself as an empowered woman, who is living her purpose by helping other women. Besides my online business, which will be my primary source of income by then, I would have invested in real estate to generate passive income as well. Not only will I empower women all over the world as a mentor, but I’ll also invest in projects to support
animals and our precious planet. I love the idea of sharing as much as I can, whether it’s love, wisdom, or money.
Living in a small old house amidst a large wild garden, together with my partner, probably two kids, a dog, at least three cats and a bunch of
chickens, I’ll be making sure to grow plenty of fresh and healthy veggies, fruits and berries for the entire family. I always loved the idea of having a low impact on the environment while being self-sufficient.
4. What does women empowerment mean to you?
I think by reading between the lines, it might already have come through what my understanding of women empowerment is. But I absolutely love to
talk about this and I could do it for hours, so I’m trying to only write a short summary here.
An empowered woman is embracing her divine feminine power. She is a goddess, a priestess, a witch, or even a warrioress. She doesn’t hide
from the world – She has found her voice. An empowered woman knows her worth and has boundaries. She lives her life wildly, unapologetically, and limitlessly. Whether you are just starting your journey of empowerment or you’ve already forged ahead, we are all women in process
and we all have this empowered women inside us. We just need to wake her up. And this is what women empowerment means to me: The process of
awakening your inner goddess and unleashing her divine feminine energy to live a purposeful life.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Christina Henry, a Registered Nurse based in Gold Coast, Australia. She has a passion for health promotion and writing. Her website Midlifestylist.com combines both passions and aims to inspire other midlifers to live the healthiest version of themselves. Having overcome several health issues herself, she is able to use her knowledge of the issues people may need to overcome to achieve their goals. Christina is married to her second husband, has two adult sons and a house full of pets. She enjoys cooking, gardening and traveling.
Here is an interview with her.
What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
My goals in life were to bring up my children to be the people they’re meant to be, to make a positive impact on others’ lives, and to create a life of peace and joy for myself and my family. I loved watching my children grow up into the creative, intelligent men they are.
I realised early on that they were creative and musical so trying to force them into an academic pathway wouldn’t work. By allowing them to express themselves, they’ve both used their creativity in their own way which I am extremely proud of.
My career as a nurse enables me to make a positive impact of peoples’ lives even for the short time they are in hospital. My blog allows me to reach people on another level and hopefully inspires them to live a healthy lifestyle.
I continue to seek peace and joy for myself and my family. My home is my haven. Being comfortable in my own surroundings helps.
Who or What inspires you?
Whenever I’ve gone through difficult periods in my life I find myself drawn to books and documentaries about people who have overcome the worst situations you can imagine. Reading how they rose above their problems and strove for a better life by finding inner strength is what drives me to find the same inner strength. I’ve had a life that’s so full of adversity and overcome more drama than most people. It has resulted in severe insomnia, anxiety and depression at times but it didn’t break me entirely. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those challenges in my life.
What is your success mantra?
“Do what you can do rather than focusing on what you can’t”
So many people let things hold them back, things like health issues, troubled upbringing, socio-economic status or lack of knowledge. Where there’s a will there’s a way. There is so much free information available now. Focus on the things you can do, e.g. my chronic back pain and heart condition prevent me from going to the gym or doing high intensity workouts. I can walk however, and I walk as much as I can, including taking the stairs rather than the lift. My upbringing by an alcoholic father, the early death of my mother, and a marriage to an alcoholic and abusive ex-husband, could have been reason enough to go down the path of alcohol, drugs and other addictions, but I chose to not use that as an excuse. You can only blame your circumstances for so long, after that it’s up to you to fix your life.
What is your advice to women who are too busy with family and career and unable to devote much time to health and well-being?
Your health is your most important asset. Don’t neglect it. Find some way to fit it into your schedule. After I nearly lost my life at 43 due to complications after a simple procedure, I realised how quickly life can be snatched away. My sister passed away at 44 from an epileptic fit. She landed with her head up against a door, which tilted her head forward so that she choked to death. Tragedy like that makes you appreciate life even more. I don’t want my sons being without me so I incorporate healthy lifestyle choices into my daily routine.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Amber Dean, a blogger based in Georgia, USA. Here is her story:
“My name is Amber, I recently started a blog that covers everything from Domestic Violence to Addiction and loving an addict and learning to love yourself and having faith in the middle of the chaos. Inspired by the life I lived and now want to bring awareness of these topics that nobody wants to talk about. Growing up my dad and mom were amazing parents, but my dad was an abusive (to my mom) addict due to undiagnosed mental illnesses he self medicated for. In 2014 I found them both dead due to a murder suicide. My husband has struggled with addiction most of his life and I balanced it all not knowing where to turn until 2019 when I said enough is enough and we separated, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It ended up being my saving grace to find my self-worth while at the same time my husband reached out for help! All by the grace of God. Now we are taking it one day at a time, we are working things back out but living separately and I talk about our many struggles and how we got through them.”
Here is an interview with her.
1. What is your advice to women stuck in a bad relationship but lacking the courage to come out of it?
You get one life. One single life! You hesitate too long and life will pass you by. Can you imagine being in this horrible relationship and wanting to leave but being worried about the what if’s. You spend another 5 or 10 years on the fence, promising yourself tomorrow. What happens when you wake up at 60 or 65 and realize the days turned into years and you wasted your one life on someone who was not worth it, who didn’t fulfill you?! Now imagine, you decided to pack up and leave today. You didn’t think about what could go wrong. You just thought about what could go right. And you find yourself again. You find what makes you smile, what makes you happy, what makes you, you. And in that time you happen to meet the person that was completely made for you. Life is about choices, make sure you are making the right ones!
2. Are there any memorable experiences in your life that you would like to share with us?
I got married to the love of my life in 2009, only to find out one year later he was struggling with drug addiction. In 2014 I walked into my parent’s home after many failed attempts to get them on the phone, to find them both dead, due to a murder-suicide. Ironically, this is the same year my husband addiction really took off. By 2019 I couldn’t handle anymore of what was going on with him and that crazy life, so I packed all of my things and moved. 6 months later and days away from signing divorce papers, we decided to give it one more chance, but this time living separately. 2019 was my saving grace, I fell in love with myself and learned I was worth so much more than I had been accepting. Also the same year I watched my husband start taking steps to recovery. I am so excited for what my future holds, with God and new found love of life, I know it will be amazing.
3. Given what you have gone through, how do you cope with your traumatic past and how do you overcome it and focus on the future?
Faith! Short and sweet. In my hardest times I hit my knees and prayed. In my best times I hit my knees and prayed. God touched my soul and helped me see what I never was able to see before. I am worth it. I can do it and no matter what happens, it will all be OK!
Meet our featured beauty with brains Angela Hill, a blogger based in Vancouver, Washington.
She is a stay at home working mom and works remotely for a high-end skincare company. She has been married for almost 13 years and has 2 kids – a teenager and pre-teen. Her 35th birthday is coming soon but she considers herself pretty much a kid at heart. She loves her pets (2 dogs, 2 cats) and is a Pit Bull Advocate and rescuer. She has struggled with mental illness for 13 years and is taking this year (well once everyone can leave their homes) to explore that more and hopefully find mental wellness. Her blog will be focused on self care and wellness because she knows first hand how important it is.
Here is an interview with her.
1. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
That’s an excellent question. My goals have changed throughout the years but they’ve all maintained the same theme; mental wellness. I have been through quite a few really difficult times in my life due to mental illness and even 13 years after it began I find most of my life is greatly affected by my mental state. 2020 was going to be my year, the year I changed everything. Then COVID-19 decided to step in and laugh in my face! Forced to be indoors, away from my fears, I have decided to spend this time reaching out to others and helping them in a way I didn’t have offered to me when my problems began. So, to answer your question, my goals are to create awesome blog content centered around mental wellness and self-care, while working on myself in the meantime.
2. What is your advice to women who suffer from depression and are unable to lift themselves up?
Seek help; first and foremost. It seems daunting, it seems scary. We don’t want to admit to our mental illness, we don’t want to admit to being broken and weak. But when your illnesses are affecting you they will make you weak, and you WILL need help. You may need to reach out to a mental health professional for the first time, you may need to confide in a close friend or family member, but you need to tell *someone.* There are tons of resources out there as well, Facebook groups and blogs you can follow. After that, make a to-do list and just do one thing at a time!
3. What are some of the challenges you faced in life and how did you overcome them?
In 2007 I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. I wasn’t able to drive 2.5 miles to get my son to daycare, and my job was only a mile past that. I have struggled with panic attacks and generalized anxiety ever since until I finally was hospitalized on 2011. With the right medication I was finally able to do some of the things I hadn’t done in years; like take a 1+ hour car ride. I have since gotten even better at conquering my fears but they still hold me back in a major way. I don’t think we should be ashamed of admitting we use prescriptions to be well, if I didn’t I might not be living today. But with the right medications, or meditations, or therapy, coaching, breathing techniques, close personal relationships, or anything else someone may find positive relief in, we can really begin to conquer some of the problems we face in day-to-day life living with mental illness.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Anna Bruder, a blogger and businesswoman based in South Carolina, USA.
She is a partner at her family business, Fairview Water Gardens, and deals with marketing and bookkeeping. She is also a blogger and started Fitpire (https://www.facebook.com/fitpireblog) to help moms with health & fitness, parenting and working at home.
Here is an interview with her.
1. What are your dreams and aspirations?
I want to grow my blog and bring in a brand new income to my family just from the blog, all while helping others.
2. Who or what inspires you?
Other bloggers inspire me because I can see where they started and where they are now.
3. What’s a typical day in your life like?
I have 3 kids, two are toddlers, so my day consists of cleaning messes and entertaining them. In between the chaos I work on blog posts and social media. Clean the house. Work on family business, Fairview Water Gardens.
4. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Ten years from now, I see me happy. I see at least one successful blog and a very successful family business.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Joanna Robbins, a respiratory therapist based in Forest Ranch, California (USA). Here is her story:
“I’m a married mom of 2, working full time as a respiratory therapist at a local hospital (been an RT since I was 21). Always knew I wanted to serve others in healthcare.
My husband an I are passionate about home design and decor (has always been a hobby not a professional business) and we self-built our first home when we first got married in 2007 (I was only 19 and he was 21, & we were high school sweethearts), we always had big goals and plans and we started early. We bought a foreclosure property in 2012 and over 7 years fully renovated our 2nd home ourselves, we had 2 kids while we lived there then we sold that home last year (real estate market was great) and we currently are living in a trailer while we build our next home.
We will probably live in a trailer for 2-3 years since we are doing every aspect of the home building ourselves as much as possible to save money. Our goal is to be debt free. We have always had our sights set on big goals and planned our life as much as possible with our goals in mind (I actually had to convince my husband to do this last one) it’s an adventure for sure, not knowing the costs and it’s a lot of sacrifices to make in the meantime but I am very goal oriented and stay optimistic and can see the benefits in the end so I’m sticking with it. I know we can accomplish whatever we absolutely believe we can achieve.
I also started my own blog a few months ago, so that I can be able to share our home building journey and display the home once it’s completed and decorated. I hope to encourage others to set big goals and go for it despite the fear and setbacks along the way. It’s definitely a balancing act raising 2 young kids, working full time, supporting my husband behind the home building (I help him in his work when I can) and have time to grow my blog/online presence. But I’m persistent and excited to get to where I hope to be in a few years.
We’ve also had lots of setbacks in our lives together, 2 family members’ suicides, a cousin was murdered, and my husband battled with opiate and alcohol addiction for years, but that still didn’t stop us from making it through to where we are now. I’m stronger because of all those things.
As a lead/charge respiratory therapist at a level III trauma center, saying that work right now ‘is stressful’ is an understatement. Everyone’s emotions are high and I have some co workers coming to me in tears for different reasons. We are short on PPE like everyone else so we are having to conserve which makes people worry even more about the ‘what if’s’ of when/if we run out. We have good support from our hospital and community and we are also a rural hospital so everyone is praying and crossing their fingers that we will not be affected as much as larger cities. It’s a waiting game at this point.
At home on my days off I’ve been spending more quality time with my children and husband. The stay at home orders have forced me to have a much less busy lifestyle. It’s been kind of nice. I’m also making sure I have a little quiet time, detaching myself from the constant news and scary updates of the virus and trying to enjoy my life and stay positive. I’m focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, staying connected to family & friends (we have zoom conference meetings with my friends some residing currently in the Cayman Islands & Ecuador). Also just having faith in God has suppressed my fear & anxiety greatly. You also have to just have good common sense and be safe, stay home, stay positive, love & support one another. We’re going to make it through this together.”
Feel free to check out her website, FB page and Instagram:
Meet our featured beauty with brains Kate Kernick, a holistic counsellor and energy healer based in Sydney, Australia. Here is an interview with her.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
It feels like I’ve always had an interest and curiosity in health and the metaphysical, so I feel blessed to finally be able to combine both as work. Before this though, I travelled extensively in my 20s, then got married and spent the next 15 years living in some weird and exotic places all over the world. We had 2 boys who are now amazing teenage creatures developing lives of their own. My marriage ended after 12 years, and this was a time of huge awakening and self-development for me – into the dynamic that I came to realise was all about control and keeping me isolated from my family here in Sydney. Once we separated when we got back to Sydney to live, I felt a pull towards the counselling profession and dived into a counselling degree. I recall my friends at school always called me counsellor Kate, so I suppose it was always within me. During my years abroad I pursued my interest in Reiki and energy type healings. In the past few years, this has morphed into my own kind of healing modality with very specific ‘abilities’ – for lack of a better word.
During my counselling studies I became fascinated with the impact and effect of trauma on people and I have not stopped reading, researching and studying it since. I’ve since developed a deep passion for supporting clients to process and resolve trauma and emotional distress with holistic counselling and energy healing. The counselling is body work based in the physical to create change (talk therapy by itself doesn’t work), and the energy healing resolves emotional blocks, tears, wounds and leaks that get stuck in the energy body. Our old hurts, wounds and abuses don’t just go away as we get older; the emotions get stuck in our energy field and have a huge impact on all aspects of our lives.
Who or what has inspired you?
It’s ironic but if I hadn’t gone through what I did with my marriage I could almost 100% say I wouldn’t be where I am today. Much as my ex is still causing problems 9 years after divorce, I have to thank him for where he’s got me to. Weird I know, but it has allowed forgiveness which I feel has helped me to springboard into a much healthier space, especially as I can’t be holding onto baggage whilst I’m assisting other people to offload theirs.
I have a small bunch of amazing friends who are all kindred spirits who have supported me when I’ve really doubted myself and fallen into fear and overwhelm. I also re-partnered with a beautiful soul who has encouraged me all the way, even though it’s been a scary ride setting up my own business. I have discovered a deep well of determination, strength and tenacity (and a good deal of stubbornness), along with a long term vision of what I would love to create with the business in the future
Would you like to share any special or memorable experiences with us?
Here’s one personal and one professional. Professionally, I feel deeply privileged to join clients on their journey back to themselves. It’s awe-inspiring watching clients discover a part of themselves they never knew existed, but was within them all along. Personally, I’m happy to share about a miscarriage I went through a couple of years ago with my current partner. I don’t feel we talk about miscarriage enough as a society, which is important to help couples not feel so alone when it happens to them. It was an unplanned pregnancy, but I knew I was pregnant straight away. I could physically feel the soul of this being, and when I was quiet and still she would talk to me. She kept telling me that she wasn’t going to stay very long, and sure enough, 6 weeks later she was gone. I’ve long felt and seen spirit guides and other beings in other dimensions, but this proved their existence beyond a doubt. It was a sad, mystical and amazing experience all at once.
What’s your success mantra?
Examine and work through fear and resistance as chances are, they are old beliefs and ancestral patterns that are not yours anyway, and so definitely don’t serve you. This can take perseverance as our subconscious is very powerful and can easily set us back if we’re not aware what’s happening. Also, surround yourself with people who believe in you and listen lots to people who talk about quantum physics such as Dr Joe Dispenza, Bruce Lipton, Lynne McTaggart and Gregg Braden, as I believe we must learn to use our own innate power that’s been lost for centuries.
If you would like to contact her, here are her details.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Lilly Chileya, an entrepreneur based in Norway. Here is an interview with her.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
Hello my name is Lilly, I am a 28 year old mom of three!
I am from a town south-west of Norway! I’m a certified hairdresser, but I have always believed that there is more to life, that there is a higher purpose, and I have always wanted more! So about 2 years ago I decided to take the leap of faith and jump into the unknown, with no experience, no knowledge I started up my homebased business! My mission is to help as many people as I can, with health, mindset, personal growth and business! I love the fact that I can work when I want, from where I want and get paid by helping other people fulfill their dreams!
I mainly work through social media, showing people what I do and what I have to offer, by posting about health and wellness, mindset and personal growth, I also train individuals or businesses to grow their social media platforms in order to gain more customers!
I am a very deep person, I have always been good at training myself and learn new things everyday, I always strive to be better and do better, and through sharing my mindset, my knowledge and my devotion to follow my dreams I believe I can help other people to believe in themselves and their own dreams! I truly believe that the only boundaries there are, are the ones you set for yourself! When you decide to go for it nobody can stop you, and I am here to help you grow!
What is a typical day in your life like?
None of my days are the same, thats whats so fun about what I do! I meet new people everyday, connect with new people through social media, have deep conversations to make people understand the value of their mindset, and how to train their mindset to work in their favour! But there are a few things I do everyday so let me bring you into the insights of my everyday life:
I always wake up with the kids to get them off to school and prepare them for the day. My breakfast is always skinny coffee, like no joke, I cannot live without my skinny coffee, it literally starts my day off with so much energy and focus on what i have to do!
Before I start any type of work I do, I do what I need to do in the house. I can’t work in a mess, so while I tidy and clean I always work on personal development, whether its through a motivational video on youtube, or a podcast or even a audiobook about leadership and personal growth, this is so important for the right mindset before i even start working.
Then my work starts, and I usually start with posting so I can follow up on engagement through out the day. Then I will follow up with my potential customers, check in with my team, do a motivational live in my facebook group, or share a tip on a IG-TV post. This changes everyday. To work on social media is about being creative and connecting with people in different ways!
I always spend a lot of my day on my team, so I always check in on them, how are they doing, who needs that little extra spark? Who is in need of a one on one with me, maybe I will set up a training on zoom, or even a welcome on zoom for new team members.
Then the kids will come home and its time for homework, dinner and family time – wich is very important to set aside time for, even as self-employed. Its very time consuming to start a new business, but for me my number one priority is my kids, so the time when they are home I try to log off from work as much as I can!
Then when the kids go to bed for the night, I will spend an hour or two on following up with my morning posts, then do night posts on all social platforms before I log off for the day and spend some quality time with my husband!
At the end of this I want to say that anything is possible, ‘’I haven’t got time’’ is not a valid excuse to push your dreams away! You can do it all , but to do so you have to manage your time, you have to have a structure and priorities, you cant do everything for everyone at the same time, so the key-word to success is ‘’time management’’!
What is the secret of your health and fitness?
My secret to my health and fitness is obviously my products – that everyone can use! Most of them being plant based. I have products I use daily and some I use when needed! The most used ones being: skinny coffee – collagen – protein shake – super greens and super reds – and of course my beauty skin care line, witch is so amazing – co made with Dr. Paul Nassif!
But as everyone knows just using products wont do much, so I have to put in the work to reach my goals! I have a routine where I do some days of yoga, some strenght and in between I do running – but yoga is by far my favorite – as its also working on the mind – and I feel so connected to myself!
Remember: One day falling off, will never set you back to day zero, you just have to get back on the horse, even 2 days of exercise or being active is better than none, and by using the right health products thats all you need, and by breaking the chain on bad habbits little by little, you will find joy in your new ways along the way. Just keep consitent and keep it up, and the changes will come, in both mind and body. If you need help getting started or need a personal coach, feel free to email me – lillychileya@outlook.com
What are your dreams? Have you fulfilled them?
My dream is to see more women live with the kind of freedom I do! A freedom of a stressless mind, freedom from finacial stress, freedom to dare to dream and to have the guts to follow them, the freedom to speak their minds, to feel that they matter, that they are GOOD ENOUGH, and to feel that they have a voice that needs to be heard! Everyone’s got a voice and maybe someone needs to hear yours?
My dream is far from furfilled – my mission has just begun, I have a long road ahead – but I am so excited to be on this journey – and I am so happy to do this work to lay the foundation for the generations to come!
One thing though – I dream more and bigger now than I have ever done before, with a positive mind I will make them all come to life! Watch me.
Lilly Chileya is the Owner and Founder of Food and Body. Check her out on Instagram:
Meet our featured beauty with brains Lua Jones, an entrepreneur based in Bristol, United Kingdom. She recently launched a website to empower teenage girls:
I’m a Writer, Empowerer and now the Editor of a new online magazine called Dear Teenage Me, which we recently launched for teenage girls. I moved to Sydney around a year ago and I live here with my partner and our 4yo boy. I’ve been a DJ and Fashion Designer for most of my life, and when I moved to Sydney I decided it was time for a change. I have always been committed to empowering women since I can remember. I ran an all-female music collective and a clothing brand throughout my 20’s and 30s, very much based on that ethos. A few years ago I set up an organisation around ‘Women Empowering Women’ and put on events for skills and knowledge sharing in the music/creative industries.
Who or what inspired you to start a venture which is about empowering teenage girls?
I was inspired to make a difference to teenage girls, as I myself found those years extremely challenging, with; periods, friendships breaking up, bullying and all sorts, which can be so hard to navigate through. I heard that 75% of mental illness already occurs by the time we are 24, 50% by age 14 and I thought if we could make a difference to younger women, perhaps then we can prevent just some of the pain and struggling from having to happen. Of course, I am all for people discovering ‘life’s lessons’ for themselves, but there has to be a point where we don’t just leave them to flounder around on their own with this stuff! Young people can thrive with mentorship, guidance and intergenerational support. If our experiences and advice can help some teenagers, then perhaps it might mean the difference between an eating disorder taking hold or not, an abusive relationship being endured or not, it may even be the difference between life or death. Self Harm is now the 2nd biggest cause of death for adolescent girls.
What according to you, are the most important issues teenage girls face these days?
I think mental health is a huge factor for teens Obviously given the statistics mentioned above. There are so many influences coming at our young people from every angle and it’s such a lot to deal with, especially given that their prefrontal cortex haven’t fully developed yet. What I see possible is for teens to get into the world of self-development work much earlier on. There is a huge movement going on where self-development/self education/personal growth/mindset work or whatever you may prefer to call it, is on the rise, and i think it’s becoming much more the ‘norm’ to ‘work on ourselves’. I really don’t think it’s ideal for people to wait until they are in their 30s/40s/50s… Why not start young, and undo some of your limiting beliefs before it sets in so deeply into your psyche. The term ‘Mental health’ covers a huge amount of the issues we will be covering on the site. However, we also want the site to be really eclectic and inclusive. So there will be articles on all kinds of things.
What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
I want to make a global difference to young women, and to women overall. Obviously I don’t have anything against men. I want everyone to be in the conversation towards achieving equality because it affects us all. But I also know from my experiences that women can first thrive by empowering each other. Some of us really need a safe space
to express ourselves and feel safe. The patriarchy doesn’t often afford women that experience in common spaces, so I believe we should nurture that kind of environment from the start, with a view to achieving equality in the longer term. I’m under no illusion that equality will happen tomorrow sadly. And until these spaces are equal, until everybody is calling out ‘everyday sexism’ then spaces like this will be needed. I believe ‘women empowering women’ will be a huge factor for change and I’m sure men will join the conversation more and more as we are starting to see.
As for achieving my own goals, I’m blessed to have an amazing life. I have achieved some big goals in my life, like Djing to thousands in Glastonbury, and having celebrities/musicians wear my clothing brand. However, the way those goals looked in my mind was not always the way they turned out in reality, and I found it hard to celebrate my wins in the past because I was so ambitious, that really nothing ever was good enough. I have realised now that it is all about the journey, there is nowhere to get to. When you are trying to get over ‘there’ somewhere, you always experience the grass being greener on the other side. You forget to take in the present moment and be grateful for the now. All I know now is that the path I am on now, feels like exactly where I should be.
Empowered Brave Women Building Futures 